The Enterprise Cafe
by datadoesntlie
Summary: A series of one-shots taking place in a coffee shop AU. Jim Kirk owns The Enterprise Cafe, home to a number of regular customers. Chapter 2, The Bones Fund: When McCoy's bitter ex-wife attempts to cut contact between McCoy and his daughter, Jim leads the rest of the Enterprise Cafe in a mission to help their friend out.
1. Chapter 1

I saw a post about a Star Trek coffee shop AU on my dash a couple of days ago, and the idea just wouldn't leave my mind since, so I wrote it. It ended up being a lot more Chekov-focused than I thought, so. sorry. Probably it happened because a) he's my favorite b) it was easy to set up a situation where he was the new kid at the cafe and c) he's a computer science major here which means his perspective is the one I feel most confident writing! (since I am also a CS major.)

For now, this is a one-shot. However, there are more ideas I had that I couldn't fit well into this, so there might be more one-shots/drabbles in this universe later.

Title: The Enterprise Cafe  
Author: datadoesntlie / jktsanjou (Tumblr)  
Original Idea: tardisfleet  
Characters / Pairing: the usual bridge crew, but mostly Chekov and Kirk / gen  
Word count: 3084  
Rating: PG-13 for language?  
Warnings/Notes: I really want to say "warning for Stems", because Chekov's intro to engineering class is based off of the awful core engineering class at my school, but probably no one will get that. Oh, I should probably say that I've never actually worked at a coffee shop, so there's probably stuff in here that's inaccurate...  
Summary: Pavel Chekov wanders into a small coffee shop owned by Jim Kirk, and finds himself welcomed rather quickly into an interesting group of regulars.

* * *

It's only a month into Pavel Chekov's freshman year at university in the US when the on-campus Starbucks closes for renovation. He stares at the sign, and wonders where to go now. It's not that he doesn't _like_ his roommate, but when the older boy isn't teasing him about his young age, he's playing music, video chatting, or inviting friends over. He can't focus enough to study, and with his schedule - twenty-one credits, the hard limit to how many classes he can take as a freshman - he really needs to study.

When he asks around, most of his classmates give him directions to Starbucks locations off campus. But he's been to those, and they're too crowded and noisy for his taste. He's about to give up and sit at the library when he sees a forgotten flyer for a cafe, only a few weeks old but already half-postered over on the bulletin board near the student center.

The Enterprise Cafe is out of the way, hidden on a back street, close enough to be convenient but far enough to be quiet. There's no fancy sign, so he almost misses it, but his excellent navigational skills pull through, and he arrives only a few minutes later than he had originally planned. The cafe is pretty quiet, and he can hear the sounds of the coffee machines in the back over soft music. There are six or seven others sitting down on couches or at tables; some with textbooks and highlighters, some with laptops, some just relaxing with their coffee. He recognizes Professor Scott from his engineering lecture in an animated discussion with a grad student. Something about using the department head's pet beagle in an experiment - he decides he doesn't want to know the details, and moves on.

There's a young man, in his mid-20's, leaning against the counter. His nametag identifies him as Jim. Jim grins and stands up as Chekov approaches. "What can I do for you?"

"Umm..." Jim's bright blue eyes are distracting. Chekov stares for a second before snapping out of it and looking up at the menu. "Medium iced white chocolate mocha, with whipped cream, please."

"And your name?"

"Pavel."

Jim writes his name on the cup in a gold marker. "Okay, Pavel, anything else?" Chekov shakes his head, and pays for the drink. He turns around, and surveys the room again to find a seat. Instead, he gets distracted by the huge world map on one wall. There are stickers and names attached to various places. Jim Kirk in Iowa. Leonard McCoy in Georgia. Nyota Uhura in Africa. Hikaru Sulu in southern California. Others, too, mostly in America but a few spread out in foreign countries. He's wondering what they represent when he hears his name called.

"Pavel?" A blonde girl - Janice, according to her nametag - places his drink on the counter. The cup is white, which he doesn't think anything of until he notices that all of the other customers sitting down have colored cups. He sees red, yellow, and blue, but he has the only white one. He thinks maybe they're out, but when he looks back at the counter, there are stacks of colored cups right there. Huh.

He takes a sip, and winces. Despite the white chocolate syrup and whipped cream, it's still just a little too bitter for him. Maybe it's childish, but he really can't stand the taste of coffee unless it's drowned out by cream and sugar. So he grabs two sugar packets, empties them into his drink, stirs, and tries it again.

Much better. He sits down at an unoccupied table, opens up his laptop, and gets to work.

* * *

On his second visit to the cafe, Jim asks him if he wants extra sugar in his mocha. Pavel blinks, confused. "Sorry?"

"Last time you added two sugar packets. We can do that up here if you'd like." Jim says nonchalantly, like it's no big deal he not only noticed Pavel adding sugar but remembered it days later.

"Oh, um, yes, thank you."

"Whipped cream _and_ extra sugar?" A voice tinged with a southern accent comes from the table closest to the counter. It belongs to a man in his early 30s, holding a blue cup half-full with black coffee. "That right there's a recipe for disaster. You see the calories on that thing, kid? Not to mention you're gonna rot your teeth."

"Bones, be nice." Jim scolds the man. He leans closer to Chekov, and his voice drops to a fake whisper. "Sorry about that. He's just in a bad mood today. Well, he's always in a bad mood, but we love him anyway."

Before he can respond, Janice calls his name from the other end of the counter. Which is weird, because Chekov didn't give Jim his name this time. He shrugs, takes the white cup, and takes a sip from his iced white chocolate mocha with whipped cream and extra sugar. It's perfect.

As he sits down, he notices a young man wearing a collared shirt and tie standing at the counter. The man looks familiar; he had been at the cafe last time, too. Jim's grinning as he writes the man's name and order on a blue cup, and Chekov can't hear their conversation very well but he's pretty sure Jim's flirting. A lot. As the man moves away from the counter, his uncertain smile turns into a look of confusion. Chekov can barely make out a quiet "that sentence did not make any sense, Jim is quite illogical". The Southern man Jim called Bones smirks from his seat.

* * *

His third visit is later in the evening than the first two, after a meeting with some other students to work on their engineering group project. Now that that's over (for now) it's time to get started on his computer science homework for the week. He sits down at a table in the corner, puts on headphones, and opens up a new text editor window.

It's easy to lose track of time when coding. Between writing the first draft of the code, fixing compiler errors, rewriting code, and attempting to locate the source of the constant segfaults, hours pass. He doesn't even realize how late it is until someone pulls his headphones off his head.

"Hey, Pavel. We're closing up." Chekov looks up at Jim, then back down to his computer's clock. 11:30pm. The rest of the cafe is empty, chairs on the tables - of course, considering the cafe closes at 11. Shit.

"Oh! Sorry, I was concentrating wery hard, and did not mean to-"

"It's okay, don't worry about it. You seemed so wrapped up in your work, I figured I'd let you keep going while I cleaned up." Jim pats him on the shoulder, and Chekov turns bright red. Was he really that cut off from his surroundings? He packs his backpack, and gets up.

"Thank you for letting me stay late."

"No problem. Hey, let me give you a ride back to your dorm. It can get kind of dangerous out here this late."

Chekov blushes even redder. "Please, do not worry about it, I am fine." Well, actually, the idea of walking through the city by himself this late does make him nervous, but just a little, and-

"No, seriously, it's no big deal. It's only a few minutes out of the way. I drive Bones home all the time, and that's like a half-hour in the wrong direction. I'll take you back." He already has his coat on and keys in hand, and Chekov thinks he's probably fighting a losing battle.

"Thank you, sir."

"Call me Jim." Jim flashes a grin at him before leading the way to his bike.

* * *

On his fourth visit, he makes sure to throw an extra few dollars into the tip jar as payment for the ride. Jim laughs and says it really isn't necessary. He runs the cafe for the company, not the money.

"If you keep saying that, no one will ever tip you." The African woman on one of the couches smiles without looking up, her gaze focused completely on her linguistics textbook.

"Aww, come on, Uhura. You don't think my natural charm does the trick?"

"Natural charm? Yeah, right." She rolls her eyes, taking a sip from her red mug. Jim pretends to be offended, but as soon as he's sure she's not looking, Chekov sees him smiling at her fondly.

He's partway through his engineering problem set when a thickly accented voice makes him jump. "That's pretty good, laddie, but you've mixed up the spring constants."

Chekov turns around in his seat to see Professor Scott peering at his homework over his shoulder. "Professor Scott!"

"Call me Scotty. Knew you looked familiar the first time you came in. You're one o' mine, right? Morning section?"

"Yes!" Chekov's face lights up. He's surprised Scott remembers him - it's a large class, and the professor himself only lectures once a week. Then again, the number of people that actually show up to the 8am lectures is unsurprisingly small, and he's pretty sure he gets brownie points just for being there every day. "Your lecture last week, about the applications of the Fourier transform, was wery interesting." Well, what he could understand of it, anyway. He's not used to hearing English in a Scottish accent, and some of what he hears means nothing to him. But he reads the textbook to fill in the blanks, and understands the material pretty well.

"Really?" Now the professor's face breaks into a grin. "You know, you might be the first lad to say that. Ever since something I designed went wrong - which, really, it wasn't wrong, just a little unexpected - and scared off Archer's pet beagle, they've stuck me with the intro class as punishment. Even the engineers don't like the intro class! I do what I can, but they've given me a strict syllabus and a TA and everything. And look at the book, it's filled with typos and mistakes! Just when I was thinking, I cannae take any more of this...you really like it?" He looks hopefully at Chekov, who nods enthusiastically. "That's my boy! There's hope for the freshmen yet!" He claps Chekov on the back, and sits down next to him.

They spend a half-hour going over the problem set. Professor Scott seems very pleased the only mistakes Chekov's made have been typos and mixing up numbers - he understands the concepts perfectly, which is apparently rare for the course. When the two part ways, Scott tells him, "If you ever need help - don't go to Keenser's TA hours, they're packed and he's no good - come see me here. I spend a lot of my free time here. It's easier to get work done when I don't have the higher-ups looking over my shoulder, and kids knocking on my door every five minutes thinking I'll give 'em the answers. Nice and quiet, too - no one ever calls me while I'm here." He looks around, then leans in and conspiratorially whispers, "The Enterprise has bloody awful cellphone service. It's really good for avoiding people."

Chekov checks his phone, and sure enough, no service. Not that it really matters; no one calls him anyway, and there's free wifi inside. Out of curiosity (he's somewhat of a scientist, after all, and feels compelled to try out every possibility) he waves his phone around, holding it as high as he can reach. Still no signal, but as he brings the phone up directly above his head he notices the design on the ceiling for the first time.

There's a star map, carefully designed such that the overhead lights take the place of particularly bright stars. They aren't labeled, but some of the constellations are connected with lines. His arms fall to his sides as he just stares up at the ceiling, entranced.

"Like what you see?" Jim calls from behind the counter. Chekov nods, eyes never leaving the ceiling.

"It's beautiful." When he was a child, he loved looking up at the stars at night. It's one of the things he's missed in college, in a city where the ever-present city lights and smog obscure the night sky. And yet, here it is, as brilliant as he remembers it.

"There's a whole world out there beyond this city, you know. Adventures bigger than any of us could even imagine." Jim grins, and Chekov suddenly can't tell if he's talking to him or the entire room. "It's not for everyone - hell, Bones would kill me if I tried to send _him_ off to the unknown. But if you ever get sick of what you're doing, don't forget that there's so much more out there. Don't get yourself stuck here."

"What about you?"

"Me?" Jim laughs. "This _is_ my adventure."

* * *

It's his fifth visit when Jim asks if Chekov wants 'the usual'. Chekov bounces up and down, grinning. "With-"

"-whipped cream and extra sugar." Jim recites for him. "I know."

Chekov's a little excited. Well, more than a little. A lot excited. He spent a month regularly going to the Starbucks on campus, and the baristas never even bothered to remember his name, let alone his favorite drink. Yet after only five visits, he feels very welcome in the Enterprise Cafe. The atmosphere is inviting and comfortable, and the people - both the workers and the customers - are friendly. He could get used to this. In fact, he thinks he already has.

He waits at the counter for his usual white cup, but Janice hands him a yellow one. His eyes widen, and she smiles knowingly. "Enjoy."

He wants to ask Jim about the color, but he's busy with another customer already. So instead, he looks around the room. There's a young Asian man, only a few years older than him, sitting at a table with a physics textbook and a yellow cup, just like his. The seat across from him is empty.

"Excuse me, can I sit here?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." The other man shifts his stuff around, making sure the other half of the table is clear. "I'm Hikaru Sulu."

"Pavel Chekov. Actually, I was wondering - what do the colors mean? On the cups?"

"Oh, these?" Sulu lifted up his cup, and looked over at the counter. "Honestly, who knows? Jim won't tell us, and Janice says she knows nothing. He's gotta have a system. I don't _think_ it's random, at least, since he always remembers what colors he gives everyone."

"Wanna know my theory?" The Southern man Chekov's seen a few times leans in from the next table over. "You two are undergrads, right? That's yellow. Red's for the grad school, like Nyota and that engineering professor. Then there's blue. I've got blue. So does Spock over there." He indicates the man in business attire hunched over a laptop with a blue coffee cup next to it. Chekov recognizes him as the man Jim had flirted with during his second visit. "I'm a doctor, he works at a tech startup. Neither of us are with the university at all, so blue cups."

"Sorry, no." Jim grins at them from the counter, and indicates the young blonde woman at the other end picking up a blue coffee cup. "Christine's pre-med. Keep guessing though, that theory makes a lot more sense than your last one."

Bones groans. "Dammit Jim."

"What was your last theory?" Chekov can't help but ask. He's a curious kid by nature.

"He thought Jim was ranking us based on attractiveness." The African woman - Uhura, he remembers from last time - informs him.

"See, the problem with _that_ theory is that I'd be putting Bones in the same tier as Spock, who is clearly head and shoulders above all of you."

Bones frowns. "Hey!"

"Love you, Bonesy!" Jim calls out as he disappears into the back room.

Spock looks up from his laptop, eyebrow raised in confusion. "I apologize if I'm misinterpreting, but did Jim just imply he finds me attractive?" There's a hint of a blush on his face.

"Unfortunately, yes." The doctor finishes his coffee and stands up. "Anyway, I'm heading back to the hospital. The name's Leonard McCoy, by the way." He nods at Chekov. "Nice to meet ya, kid."

Chekov spends the rest of his afternoon talking with Sulu. Turns out he's a sophomore physics major, turning 20 at the end of the school year. He's shocked when Chekov tells him he's double majoring in engineering and computer science; even more so when Chekov tells him he's only 16. Chekov manages to help Sulu with a particularly tough quantum problem. In return, Sulu listens to Chekov talk through his plans for his CS assignment, and despite having never taken a CS class, Sulu points out a design flaw Chekov hadn't considered. Spock even contributes his thoughts, and within two hours he has a fully working program, above and beyond the requirements of the assignment.

By the time he packs up to leave for the night, he's feeling the happiest he's been in ages. But before he can leave, Jim comes around the counter and hands him a gold sticker and a marker.

"What is this?"

Jim points to the world map. "Payment for the colored cup. All I ask is that you put your name on the map." Chekov looks a little confused, and Jim grins. "I like to keep track of where everyone's from. Just makes it look that much more impressive that people from places all over the world ended up here, in a small little cafe. Oh, but you have to promise: when you leave the city, or stop coming, or whatever, you have to keep in touch and tell me where you go. I want to mark those too. Like I said the other day, there's a whole world out there. But wherever you go, just remember you were here, in the Enterprise, and we'll always welcome you back."

Pavel Chekov nods, and writes his name on the sticker. In English, and in Russian for good measure. He has to stand on a chair to reach, but he finally sticks it on his hometown. When he turns around, beaming, the rest of the cafe is smiling back at him, and he feels like he's with family.

He feels like he's home.


	2. Chapter 2

First: thank you all for the reviews, favorites, and follows! I got a surprising amount of positive feedback from the first chapter of this. I really do love this AU, so I think I'm going to mark this as ongoing, and try to write more. However, I find myself without ideas for more chapters. If anyone has any ideas for situations they'd like to see in this universe, let me know! I'm not planning on having an actual overarching plot or anything, just a series of one-shots of varying length that take place in the same universe.

Another thing: I labeled the first one-shot as gen, and this is pretty gen as well, but now that I think I'm going to write more, I'm tempted to add in slash in the future, specifically Sulu/Chekov. Would people be against this? I mean, I know it's my story and I can do what I want with it, but I don't want to accidentally alienate people that liked the first chapter but maybe don't like slash...

I'd love to hear people's thoughts. Anyway, I'm having issues editing the chapter title, but this one's called The Bones Fund. Enjoy!

* * *

Leonard McCoy tends not to be a very happy camper. All the regulars of the Enterprise know this. He's grumpy and tired all the time, but he's a doctor after all, and has to put up with a lot of shit on a daily basis. And clearly he doesn't hate Jim as much as he says he does, because he keeps coming back to the cafe day after day. In fact, anyone who really knows him knows that McCoy treasures both his friendship with Jim and his time spent at the cafe. But on one particular afternoon, he walks into the cafe looking awful, far more upset than usual, and everyone can tell something's wrong. He doesn't start bantering with Jim or Spock, for one, just slumps down at his usual table near the counter and asks for a drink. Somehow, Jim knows he's talking about something stronger than his usual coffee. "Bones, this is a cafe. You know I can't-"

"I'm asking you as a friend, not a customer. Just a beer or something. Please." His voice sounds so broken that Jim puts down the dish he's washing and nods, with no further protest.

"Okay, yeah, sure." He quickly scans the cafe, and finds the person he's looking for. He calls out, "Hey Sulu, can you take over?" Sulu looks up from his book, nods, and gets up to take Jim's spot behind the counter. Jim's trained some of his regulars in the art of working the register and taking orders. He's at the cafe almost all the time, but when he does have to leave for some reason, he's made sure that there's usually someone around who can step in and take over. Spock and Sulu are the usual candidates; Bones doesn't have the right attitude for it, Scott and Uhura tend to be too busy with university work, and Chekov...well, Chekov's great at selling to customers, but they're a little sketchy on whether it's actually okay for a 16-year-old to work in food service. Even though Janice does most of the actual preparation. (They're pretty sure it's fine as long as Chekov sticks to the front counter, but he's overenthusiastic and has a tendency to jump at the chance to do whatever he feels needs doing. His loud "I can do zat!" has led to disaster enough times to convince Jim that the Russian is much better at attracting customers from the _other_ side of the counter.)

After handing his work apron off to Sulu, Jim retrieves two cans of beer from the back room. He sets one down in front of Bones, and keeps the other with him as he sits down with his best friend. "What's wrong?"

Bones pops open his can, and takes a long drink. After setting the beer back down, he begins to explain. "It's Joanna's birthday today." Jim knows this already, because Bones has been talking about it for a week. He can't get back to Georgia to celebrate with his daughter in person, but he has sent a gift. It should have arrived by now, but he's heard nothing from either his daughter or his ex-wife. He's asked for the afternoon off so he can spend time with her through video chat. But clearly, something has gone wrong. "Jocelyn wouldn't let me talk to her."

"Are you kidding me?" Jim can't believe it. Bones is Joanna's father, for god's sake. He knows Bones and Jocelyn had an awful divorce, but to deny a call from the young girl's dad is unbelievable. Especially when he lives all the way across the country, far outside easy visiting range. "She can't do that. You're her father, don't you have rights?"

"Who the hell knows? I'd probably have to go through some legal bullshit, and by then it'd be too late. I just wanted to wish her a happy birthday, dammit." He downs the rest of his beer, and pulls the other one out of Jim's hand. Jim lets him take it. Bones needs this way more than he does right now.

"God, Bones, I'm so sorry." Jim grabs Bones's hand and squeezes it tightly. "I know how much she means to you."

Bones snorts. "Good thing you do, cause it seems like no one else in this damn world does."

"You have visitation rights, don't you? Isn't she supposed to spend some time with you?"

"She's too young to fly out here by herself, and like hell Jocelyn's gonna bring her here. I'd have to get my ass back to Georgia to see her, but I don't have the time or money."

Bones keeps talking, but the wheels in the back of Jim's head are already turning. By the time he leaves the cafe to drive Bones home for the night, he has a plan.

* * *

The next morning, Bones is one of his first customers, as always. He grabs his usual newspaper, and they talk as Janice prepares his coffee. Bones still looks awful, broken up over the events of the day before. The bags under his eyes are more pronounced, and Jim thinks he can see some red in his eyes from crying. Not that Jim would ever bring it up. It's not like Bones would ever admit it, anyway.

"Don't worry." He tries reassuring Bones. "It'll work out. I promise."

His voice is too confident, and Bones's weary gaze suddenly turns suspicious. "You're up to something." Jim starts to deny it, but Bones insists. "I know you, Jim, and you're up to something." He searches Jim's face, looking for any kind of hint as to what exactly he's up to. Finding nothing, he scowls, masking concern. For as long as he's known the owner of the Enterprise Cafe, Jim's plans have been reckless and stupid. Sure, they always succeed, but he's sure one of these days Jim's going to get himself arrested. "Just don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"I won't!" Jim gives Bones his best innocent look, pretty blue eyes wide. Bones never falls for it, but it's worth a shot anyway. The older man rolls his eyes, takes his coffee from Janice, and leaves, knowing that nothing he can say will change Jim's mind once it's already made up.

* * *

When Nyota Uhura enters the cafe around noon, she immediately notices that Jim's usual spot at the counter is empty. As she waits for someone to show up and take her order, she hears movement from the floor behind the counter. She starts to lean over the counter to see what's going on, when Jim suddenly pops up in front of her. She jumps back in surprise.

"Hi Uhura! Hold on a sec." He's holding a microphone, and presses a few buttons. "Scotty, are we ready?" He calls out, and the Scottish engineer sticks his head out from the back room.

"Ready!" Scotty enthusiastically gives him a thumbs-up.

Jim grins. "Attention Enterprise!" His voice echoes through the room, and Uhura rolls her eyes. The cafe's small enough that everyone would hear him without a microphone; she knows Jim just likes the extra attention. "This is your captain speaking. As you may have heard, we have a crisis on our hands. Our good friend Doctor McCoy is in trouble, and we need to get him home to Georgia so he can see his adorable little daughter. A round trip plane ticket is - Spock, how much?"

"I've researched various airlines and pricing options, and it appears that the cheapest plane ticket available is $403." Spock informs Jim, looking up from his laptop.

"$403, and if we add in money for an overnight at a hotel, let's call it, what, $500? We'll be collecting donations at the counter. And! Until we've reached our goal, half the price of all purchases will go directly to the Bones fund. So buy up!" He switches the microphone off, and smiles at Uhura as if nothing's happened. "The usual?"

Uhura stares, her usual latte forgotten, mouth open in surprise. "You're kidding me."

"What, about Bones? You heard the man last night. He needs our help."

"Does he know you're doing this?"

"Of course not, you think he'd let me do this if he knew about it?"

"He's going to kill you." There are quite a few things Bones hates. Pity is one. Public attention is another. Even if it's from his best friend, Uhura thinks this might be taking it a bit too far.

"That's why he's not going to find out until after I raise the money." Jim winks, and writes her usual order on a red cup.

Uhura looks around the room, and sighs in defeat. It's a stupid plan, true, but she really does feel awful for the doctor. And even Jim's stupid plans usually succeed. "Okay, sure." She pays with a twenty, and drops the change in the tip jar, now labeled 'The Bones Fund'. As she does so, she notices the pictures of Bones and Joanna freshly taped to the counter, covered in tacky stickers and labels saying 'Help Bones see Joanna!'. "You are unbelievable."

"Hey, that was Pavel's idea." Jim nods to Chekov, who's sitting next to the door with Sulu. They're both staring out the window in opposite directions, watching carefully for the doctor. He keeps a pretty regular schedule, and he's not due at the cafe for another hour or so, but they have to be extra careful - for Jim's plan to succeed, he needs to keep Bones in the dark as long as possible.

* * *

Chekov gets bored pretty quickly, and within the hour he's standing outside instead, attempting to lure more customers in. He's pretty good at it, too, his enthusiasm easily spreading to those around him. Sulu pretends to be working on a problem set, leaving the lookout to Chekov, but Jim can see he's spending more time fondly watching the young Russian boy bounce around the sidewalk than he is actually thinking about physics.

Right on schedule, Chekov spots McCoy walking down the sidewalk, and dashes inside. "He's coming!" They have just enough time to hide the sign and pictures behind the counter before Bones enters the cafe. As he opens the door, Jim quickly spins the tip jar around to hide the new label. Nothing's out of place, including Jim himself - he's leaning against the counter casually, as usual.

As Jim makes the usual smalltalk, out of the corner of his eye he sees Chekov shifting in his seat and trying to hold back laughter. Sulu whacks him in the head lightly with his notebook, and shushes him. Bones doesn't notice anything.

Until he goes to drop coins in the tip jar. He frowns. "There are twenties in here."

"Really? Wow, that's weird." Jim fakes surprise. It's not very convincing. Sulu facepalms.

"Who the hell tips in twenties?"

Jim shrugs. "Must just be my lucky day." Damn, he wasn't expecting Bones to notice that. He'll have to switch out the tips next time. He makes a mental note to use a separate jar for the Bones Fund.

Bones rolls his eyes, not buying it. "Okay Jim, what did you break?"

"Break?" Now Jim's actually confused. He's not sure how Bones made the leap from $20 bills in the tip jar to Jim breaking anything, but hey, he's willing to go with it if it'll keep Bones from realizing the true purpose.

"Your bike, your TV, what? You're obviously collecting money for something." He's already fishing around in his wallet for cash, and Jim instinctively reaches out and takes the jar away out of his reach. He can't have Bones donate to his own damn cause.

He makes a point of looking into it and counting the bills. "Okay, yeah, I dropped my phone earlier. Totally smashed the screen. Asked a few people who looked like they had some cash if they could spare a few dollars towards the cause; guess my charm won them over." He grins at Bones. "This should cover it though, don't worry about it." Thankfully, the doctor accepts the lie.

"People aren't always gonna be nice and bail you out, you know." He huffs and puts his wallet back in his pocket. "Even if it's you." Before he can say anything more, Janice calls his name from the other end of the counter.

Once he leaves, it seems the entire cafe lets out a sigh of relief. Safe.

* * *

It takes a lot of pleading with the regulars, and quite a bit of money out of Jim's own pocket, but sooner or later he's collected $500. He's sitting at a table with Spock, counting out the day's change from the tip jar as Spock once again looks up flights.

"It appears that flights to Georgia have stayed in the same price range, though of course it depends on the arrival and departure dates. However, I cannot advise buying a ticket for the doctor, as we do not know his schedule and personal preference as to when he would like to visit his family."

"Yeah, I know." He wishes he could buy Bones a ticket, but he's not stupid. First Bones has to talk with Jocelyn, then he has to get time off of work - both things Jim can't predict the success of. There's no use buying plane tickets for dates Bones can't make.

"It would also be prudent to check with Doctor McCoy's ex-wife in order to receive her approval. In fact, it would have been more logical to ask before collecting the money in the first place." Spock raises an eyebrow at him. Jim ignores his disapproving look.

"Yeah, well, if she has a problem she can talk to me about it. I'll do whatever it takes to convince her."

The corners of Spock's mouth quirk up in a small smile, or at least what passes for one on Spock's face. "Your diplomacy skills are unparalleled."

Jim laughs. _Man, Spock's weird_, he thinks, not for the first time. But it's a good kind of weird, one he's come to appreciate since Spock started frequenting the cafe. He's logical, able to consider all possibilities and think through every solution without letting his emotions get in the way. Not many people can do that. And despite his cold logic constantly clashing with McCoy's heated emotions, his willingness to help Jim help Bones just confirms Jim's suspicion that he truly does care about the doctor.

This is good, because after spending time with Spock and McCoy, Jim doesn't think he'd last a week without both of them by his side.

* * *

Jim calls Bones to the cafe on a Sunday evening. Most of the regulars want to be there when Jim gives Bones the check, so he chooses a time none of them are at work or classes. Sulu and Chekov have to skip study sessions, but he gets the feeling seeing the doctor's face will be worth it.

Bones enters the cafe to see Jim standing on the customer side of the counter. "What's up?"

"I have something for you. Well, actually, we all worked together to get it for you."

Bones looks around, giving the rest of the cafe a wary look. "It ain't my birthday." His southern accent is stronger than usual. Jim recognizes it as a sign of uneasiness. The more he's out of his comfort zone, the more apparent his accent is.

"No, but it _was_ Joanna's, and she deserves the best present in the world. Consider this a gift from the Enterprise Cafe to you and your daughter. We're sending you to Georgia to see her." Jim holds out a check. Bones stares at him, frozen in shock.

"Remember when I was collecting money in the tip jar? Yeah, that was for this. Everyone chipped in. There's enough money here for a round-trip ticket and accommodations for a night. I wanted to buy the tickets myself, but Spock and I figured you should choose the dates."

Bones looks down at the check, then back to him, eyes wide. He slowly turns around, looking at all of the regulars, all wearing encouraging smiles. "Shit, Jim...I don't know what to say." His voice cracks, and he furiously wipes at his eyes with a sleeve, determined not to break down.

"You don't have to say anything. Just take it, and go see Joanna." Jim says softly.

Bones takes the check. $500 from the Enterprise Cafe. They're too good to him. He doesn't deserve this. He's just an old country doctor who fucked up his life so badly he had to move across the country to start over. It's overwhelming, the kindness and love he can feel radiating from everyone around him. It's something he hasn't felt in - well, in so long that he doesn't know how to deal with it anymore. Jim pulls him into a hug, and before he realizes it he's sobbing into the younger man's shoulder. Jim rubs his back soothingly.

When the moment drags on too long, Chekov decides to break it by pouncing on the two, enveloping them in as big of a hug as he can muster with his small size. The others laugh, and at Chekov's insistence first Sulu, then everyone joins in the group hug.

Well, not quite everyone. But even Spock places a hand on McCoy's shoulder, giving it an unsure squeeze. It's the most affection he's ever expressed for McCoy. Jim smiles and lets them be...

...until he gets bored. Then he pulls at Spock's arm, sending him crashing right into the group. It only adds to the laughter spreading infectiously through the cafe, so loud that when Bones finally murmurs a "thank you" into Jim's ear, he's the only one who can hear it.

* * *

It takes a while to get everything sorted out with the hospital and with Jocelyn, but Bones finally gets time off and flies out to Georgia. Two days later, he walks into the cafe for lunch, and the other regulars crowd him asking how his visit went. He's still wearing his usual grumpy expression, and he complains when Chekov invades his personal space too much like usual, but immediately launches into a story about his wonderful daughter and how happy she was to see him. He pulls out his phone to show pictures, and Jim watches as the scowl melts away. He's not sure Bones is aware of it, but talking about Joanna brings a warm smile to his face, one that Jim hasn't seen in weeks. Jim's own expression turns into a matching smile as he watches his best friend from behind the counter.

Mission accomplished.


End file.
